BADIN, March 13: More than six hundred growers and villagers of Imam Wah staged a sit-in at the Imam Wah bridge and blocked the Badin-Karachi Highway on Wednesday to protest against the irrigation minister and officials for their failure to provide irrigation and drinking water.

The protesters from various dehs, including deh Salehabad, Assely, Jakheji, Tarai, gathered at the bridge and closed vast area of the highway with hedge walls and did not allow even the students and patients to cross the bridge to other side.

Due to closer of the road, the traffic was disrupted on both sides and long queues were formed with heavy and light vehicles. The traffic was suspended for four hours.

Later, the growers, led by Syed Mardan Shah, Adam Abro, Ghulam Mohammad Korejo, Mohammad Ali, Bachal Samoon and others, recited the Holy Quran.

Heavy police contingent was called, but the police did not disturb the protesters.

The protesters were chanting slogans against the provincial irrigation minister for his failure to protect Sindh’s rights and allegedly having created artificial shortage of water in the tail of Imam Wah.

The protesters ended their protest on the assurance of the the district Nazim that their problems would be solved.

Meanwhile, the growers of tail of Imam Wah at a press conference here on Tuesday condemned the excess use of the irrigation water by the irrigation minister.

The growers accused the minister for the engineered shortage of irrigation water in tail of Imam Wah.

They warned that if water was not restored in Imam Wah within 24 hours, they would continue their protest campaign.